Sheriff records begin to tell tale of dead brothers in Ottawa

May 17, 2013

OTTAWA — Authorities have said little about last week's killing of two brothers in Ottawa, but sheriff's dispatch records and their mother's call to the agency begin to tell the tale.

Michelle Grothause, the mother of two of the teens, called the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office on May 9 to report she arrived at her trailer to find blood and a handgun. Her two boys and the son of her girlfriend were missing, along with her car.

“We have three boys that are missing. I found a gun in the house, and there’s blood in my place,” Grothause said in her call.

Blake and Blaine Romes were found dead after Michael Aaron Fay, 17, the son of Grothause's girlfriend, was apprehended in Columbus. He told police where to find their bodies.

Dispatch records show numerous calls to officers surrounding the search that ended with Blake's body at the trailer. Blaine's body later was found in a rural location outside Ottawa, but that information was not in the records. The report lists the investigation as a homicide case.

5:31 a.m.

Grothause calls the Sheriff’s Office. She says she is unable to contact her son who was scheduled to leave that morning for Washington, D.C.

“He wasn’t answering the phone, so I had to go leave work,” Grothause says.

She reports her two sons, Blake and Blaine Romes, missing.

Grothause says she found a black handgun in the house that did not belong there.

“I do not have guns in my house,” Grothause said.

Grothause then speaks to a woman in the background who gives her information on the gun.

“She is telling me it is her ex-boyfriend’s, but it was in her storage unit,” Grothause says.

Grothause tells the Sheriff's Department she is on her way back to her trailer. She also gives the man the names of the three teens.

“My girlfriend is living with me. I had to come back to work to get her because her son is also missing,” she says.

5:54 a.m.

Because of the amount of blood discovered, sheriff's officials contact hospitals. At 6 a.m., attempts at the hospitals are listed as unsuccessful.

6:30 a.m.

Muddy clothes are found at the Ottawa residence. A sheriff’s official calls for a police dog to track the teens. Minutes later, a dispatcher sends a deputy to Fay's mother's former home in Elida to check for the car Grothause reported missing.

A deputy also is sent to Gossard Storage to look for the vehicle and more weapons.

“This is where the gun came from,” the log reads.

7:07 a.m.

The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation is notified and sends two investigators.

“This is a, could, turn into a possible homicide investigation,” the sheriff’s dispatch record reads.

7:09 a.m.

An Allen County Sheriff’s Deputy is unable to locate the teens at the Elida home and at a storage unit. Elida High School is contacted and reports Fay did not show to class.

A sheriff’s official contacts the Logan County Sheriff’s Office to see if the teens are at a campground at Indian Lake.

11:01 a.m.

The three teens are added to a police database, and an Amber Alert is scheduled. Sheriff’s deputies in other counties are looking for the teens.

2:07 p.m.

The missing vehicle is found in Columbus, and plans are made to get the vehicle back to Ottawa. The vehicle is found at 2805 W. Broad St. in Columbus.

5:30 p.m.

The coroner is contacted to go to the trailer park, and plans are made to contact Grothause.

6:34 p.m.

Love Funeral Home is at the trailer to take one body to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office in Toledo.